Nicaragua Webinar Series
(For past recordings & future webinars, scroll down)
Most Recent Webinar:
SUNDAY, MARCH 2
Recording coming soon
FUTURE NICARAGUA WEBINARS
Sunday, April 13, 3pm ET:
"Building Sustainable Communities: Insights from Nicaragua." Register at bit.ly/NicaApril13.
Join Sarah Junkin Woodard for her slideshow and insights from Ciudad Sandino, Nicaragua. She represents the work of the Jubilee House Community, with the project name Center for Development in Central America. The JHC-CDCA continues to respond to local needs, helping the poor accomplish what they see as their priorities. This April 13 webinar is in conjunction with Sarah's tour of the United States from February 28 to May 13. Please also attend an event in person if she's in your area. Here is the tour itinerary, which is being continually updated. Contact Sarah@jhc-cdca.org, 704-993-6531, if you would like to set up a speaking engagement, organize your own webinar with her, or do an online or radio interview.
Sunday, May 18, 3pm ET: Nicaraguan programs of maternal and child health, and a comparison of health outcomes in Nicaragua and other nations including the US. More information is coming soon.
Speakers: Becca Renk, Magda Lanuza, Jameela Alexander.
This webinar is an interview with S. Brian Willson, a longtime peace activist who is now a Nicaraguan citizen.
Brian answered many audience questions, as well as the following queries: What were the most important factors that changed your political viewpoint and impelled you to take action? Why did you decide to move to Nicaragua, and what have you experienced and observed while living there? What message do you have for other activists and potential activists?
With commentators: Michelle Munjanattu, trade unionist and internationalist, Friends of the ATC (Association of Rural Workers), NYC; Petros Bein, Black Alliance for Peace Baltimore coordinating Team
More background: Brian Willson started life in a conservative small town in upstate New York, but he changed his political outlook as a result of life events including military experience in Vietnam. On September 1, 1987, he and other veterans blocked railroad tracks at the Concord, CA, naval station, to protest shipping US weapons to Central America. An approaching train did not stop, and Brian barely survived the impact, losing both legs below the knee as well as his right frontal lobe. After this attack, his activism only intensified. As a trained lawyer and writer, he has also documented US policy in over 20 countries including Nicaragua, which he made his permanent home several years ago.
OUR CO-SPONSORS
Grateful thanks to our co-sponsors, who help spread the word about our webinars! If your organization would also like to co-sponsor, email NicaraguaWebinars@gmail.com.
Co-Sponsors:
ADDICTED to WAR / AIM-West / Alliance for Global Justice / Anticonquista / Baltimore Club CPUSA / Baltimore Philip Berrigan Chapter, Veterans For Peace / Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace (BACP) / Brainerd Lakes United Environmentalists (BLUE) / Bronx Anti-War Coalition / Canadian Network on Cuba / Caribbean Labour Solidarity (CLS) / Casa Baltimore/Limay / Center for Global Studies, Purdue University Northwest / Chicago ALBA Solidarity / Claudia Jones School for Political Education / Echoes of Silence / Fire This Time Movement for Social Justice – Canada / Frente Hugo Chavez para la Defensa de los Pueblos-Canada / Friends of Latin America / Friends of Sandinista Nicaragua / Friends of the ATC / Friendship Office of the Americas / Green Renaissance-Sovereign Rights Movement / International Action Center / International Manifesto Group / Jubilee House Community / Los Ronderos de las Redes / Nicaragua Solidarity Campaign Action Group (UK) / Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition / Orinoco Tribune / Peoples Power Assembly (Baltimore) / Popular Resistance / Portland Central America Solidarity Committee (PCASC) / Rights Action / Rochester Committee on Latin America (ROCLA) / Struggle/La Lucha / Task Force on the Americas / Victor Jara Siempre Canta
Past Webinars
Oct 13, 2024: Attempted Coups in Venezuela & Honduras: Their Meaning for Nicaragua & Beyond
Hear analysis of recent events in Venezuela and Honduras. The speakers will counter the primary falsehoods and discuss the effect of US-sponsored coups (or the struggles to defeat them) on Nicaragua and other nations. Featured speakers: Dr. Francisco Dominguez, senior lecturer at Middlesex University (UK), head of the Research Group on Latin America; National Secretary (UK), Venezuela Solidarity Campaign; co-author of Right-wing Politics in the New Latin America (Zed Books); Adrienne Pine, Ph.D., professor, Dept. of Anthropology and Social Change, California Institute of Integral Studies.
June 3, 2023: International People's Tribunal on U.S. Imperialism: Sanctions, Blockades, Coercive Economic Measures
Testimony from experts on Nicaragua, about how sanctions and other coercive measures have affected the well-being of the country and its people
August 2024: Celebrating 45/19
Hear a report-back from many participants celebrating the 45th anniversary of Nicaragua's July 19 triumph and ongoing Revolution.
Speakers: Becca Renk, Natalia Burdynska Schuurman, Petros Bein, Brandy Gonzalez, Jason Cohen, and Yhamir Chabur.
November 2024: November 2024: Building solidarity with the Nicaraguan Revolution: The Friends of ATC network
This webinar focuses on the ATC, the Rural Workers Association in Nicaragua, which is achieving food sovereignty, environmental protections, and labor rights, in solidarity with and support from the Sandinista Popular Revolution. Speakers are volunteers with the Friends of the ATC network.. Co-moderator is Paolo Cruzalegui of Los Ronderos de las Redes.
SPEAKERS: Michelle Munjanattu, trade unionist and internationalist living in NYC; Ari Gutman, Buenos Aires-based master's student; Alvaro Mense, educator in St. Louis, in May 2024 lived with his maternal family in Nicaragua; Angel Ponce, anti-imperialist organizer in Los Angeles
May 2023: The View from the Ground: What We Experienced in Nicaragua in 2018
The four speakers lived through the attempted coup, April – July 2018, and describe how it has affected their current viewpoint and work. Featuring John Perry, Becca Renk, Nils McCune, Coleen Littlejohn.
January 2025: Sanctions: The Threat and the Promise for Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela
The US & its allies have long imposed harmful “sanctions,” economic coercive measures, on Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. The US also threatens to increase them! But we promise to fight back, & our struggle has brought us closer together, as activists for all three countries. Speakers describe actions taken during Human Rights Week – & how YOU can join our future collaboration.
Speakers: Jill Clark-Gollub, Americas Without Sanctions, Sanctions Kill Coalition; Jennifer Atlee, Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition; Leonardo Flores, Venezuela Solidarity Network; Onyesonwu Chatoyer, National Network on Cuba (NNOC)
Recent Videos & Past Streams
April 2024: Recent Elections on Nicaragua's Autonomous Caribbean Coast
What does “autonomy” mean for the Caribbean Coast regions of Nicaragua? Featuring Johnny Hodgson, recognized as a Father of Autonomy for leading the movement to restore the rights of indigenous and Afro-descendant peoples
January 2024: Nicaragua: Working to Make Earth Green Again
This webinar features Ambassador Valdrack Jaentschke, who led the Nicaragua government delegation to the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, more commonly known as COP28. Learn how Nicaragua is combating climate change, both in Nicaragua through its renewable energy and other programs, and in the international arena through its leadership and concern for the earth.
May 2024: Nicaragua's Historic & Ongoing Solidarity with Palestine
Featuring Zeiad Abbas Shamrouch, Palestinian; Yoav Elinvesky, Israeli-American; & Coleen Littlejohn, Nicaragua resident & development economist
March 2024: Brave Women, Strong Women: Power and Protagonism in Nicaragua
A report-back from a January 2024 delegation who explored Nicaraguan women’s roles and experiences as active protagonists in society. Featuring Becca Renk, Virginia Pratt, Krista Chan, Adrienne Ayers
February 2024: The Evolution of Education in Nicaragua
Spanish & English. Featuring the development of Nicaragua's plan to make education available to all. Speakers: Juan Salvador Mendez, Directors’ Council member, Ministry of Education; & Maria Esmeralda Aguilar Gutiérrez, Deputy Director, Vocational Training, National Technological Institute (INATEC)
June 23, 2024: Weaponizing Human Rights: Arrow in the Quiver of Empire
Examining how human rights can be manipulated for geopolitical ends. Speakers: Alfred de Zayas, Professor of International Law, Geneva School of Diplomacy, former UN Independent Expert on International Order; John Perry, originally from the UK, author, 20-year Nicaragua resident